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Rags to Riches

What it is: Rags to Riches takes Lemonade Tycoon to a whole new level with simulated business. In Rags to Riches, students are working to make their band a success. Students play the part of a new band going on tour with a few new songs. As they play the Rags to Riches game simulation, students must make decisions about what the band should do. They have to decide which cities are best for them to play in, what venues to play, how much money to spend on publicity and how much to charge for tickets. Students start out with $100 and must make wise decisions to continue in the simulation. When they run out of money, the game ends and they must start again.
How to integrate Rags to Riches into the classroom: If you teach students like mine, breaking out Lemonade Tycoon in the classroom is met by cheers from some and with eye rolls by others who are “way too cool” for a lemonade stand. For those students, Rags to Riches is in order. The premise of the game is the same, but instead of selling lemonade, students are working to take their band to super star status. This is a great game for teaching students about business, economics, and money. This game is really best played in a computer lab setting where each student has access to their own computer, but if you don’t have that luxury, it could also be played as a class with an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer. If you are playing as a class, give each student a roll in the band and set up rules together about how business decisions will be made. After the simulation, come together as a class and talk about what decisions had the best outcomes and which led to downfalls.
Tips: Don’t hit your back button while you are in the simulation or your game will start over. This is an important tip to pass on to students!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Rags to Riches in your classroom.

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What it is:Snap! Digital Reading Program is a set of interactive leveled books that can be printed, viewed on iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, interactive whiteboards or classroom computer. All of the books in the program have been developed to help teachers meet requirements in the Common Core Standards in vocabulary and comprehension through the use of direct instruction, close reading, modeling, guided and independent practice, and text-dependent questioning. Each leveled reader has a digital interactive version that includes fluency exercises, comprehension and multiple-choice type assessments. As your students read, you can track what they are reading, view the digital assessments and performance reports. These reports include information about CLOZE scores, multiple choice scores, and fluency. You can also see information about the last book they read (word counts, difficulty, words read correctly, etc.). Snap! Digital Reading Program also includes lesson plans associated with each book. While the program isn’t a free one, a year-long subscription to all materials (interactive ebooks for student, printable PDF versions of the books/lessons/other materials, and the data analytics for all of your students is just $89. Pretty reasonable for access for every student in your class!

How to use the Snap! Digital Reading Program in your classroom: I’ve mentioned this before, but it is worth repeating: when you have a limited classroom library (due to space, as a new teacher, budget, etc.) ebooks are such a great way to instantly expand that library exponentially! Snap! helps you do that and more. Not only are you able to offer your students additional access to reading material, they have the added benefit of getting interactive books that give you data so that you can better guide students in choosing books that will help them fall in love with reading. The readers can also be used for reading interventions, guided reading, shared reading and tutoring. The leveled readers are for students in grades k-8, so even if you have a super advanced second grade student, you can continually challenge them.

The flexibility of this program is fantastic! I’ve long been a fan of Learning A-Z for their printable books, but they are limited to a printout. With Snap! you have the option of printing out books, but students can also access them from home device, on the iPad, Kindle Fire, Android, interactive whiteboard, or classroom computers. The eBook version of the reader includes audio, photo slideshows, glossary terms, videos, fun facts, interactive maps and animations. The PDF version includes lesson plans, alphabet book, word books, assessment materials and individual student record books. Regardless of how much technology you have available in your classroom, the Snap! program works.

In a one to one setting you get the best of all worlds. Every student in your class instantly has access to 128 quality interactive books and activities. Did I mention $89?! That is a great deal! You also have the ability for offline pdf books that can be sent home for extra practice. When I taught second grade, my students loved having a print copy of the ebooks that they read in class. It was always a treat to have those printed to color and share at home.

In a one or two device classroom, you can set up a reading center for students to cycle through. Students can visit the center once or twice a week to read.

Model reading strategies for the whole class using an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer. Students can practice reading along and be introduced to new vocabulary.

Tips: The iPad version is not called “Snap!” Digital Reader. The app you will download to access the interactive ebook library is Mobl21 HD.